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Thai owned and operated restaurant. Casual dining in fine-dining atmosphere. Located in the old location of Star Anise in the South Granville district.
First visit here was a year ago. Four of us tried 2 starters, satay and a salad and for mains we had a seafood dish, pad thai and one other dish I can't remember that name. From that recollection, the food was bland and lacked any flavour that resembled true Thai food. If only Thai restaurants here bother to import the spices to retain authenticity but instead the flavours went 'Canadianized'. And by that, I meant lacking in spice, lacking in flavours and too sweet for my palate. Pad Thai here tasted of tomato sauce or ketchup instead of tamarind which is the essential ingredient for real pad thai. The other dishes were equally bland. And I hate to knock on service but they were painfully slow as it took over 40 minutes between dishes and the restaurant was not even half full....now fast forward to this weekend where I ventured again as I had a craving and they were closeby. Big mistake, BIG! I ordered Yellow Curry Fried Rice but was given Pineapple Fried Rice in my bag when I got home. Sigh. And I would have been sated had the Pineapple Fried Rice had any taste but the rice was clumpy and lacked flavour of any kind. I had to pile on my rooster chilli sauce to make it palatable. I was also made to wait any extra 25 minutes for my take out order in a near empty restaurant which made me question if they only had one stove? So sadly I am writing this place off my list forever.
We live nearby so we finally tried it for take out with the lunch menu. Food portions are small, taste is bland. The pad thai tasted like an out of the box kits they sell in grocery stores. Overall, disappointing. With all the Thai options available in the city, I suggest you go elsewhere like Sawasdee on Main or Thai Terrace for takeout.
Excellent little gem. The food is always good and very well priced.
The soups are excellent, possibly the best in Vancouver.
You can have a great lunch for $10 or dinner for under $20 per person.
The service is sometimes overwhelmed at peak times before the theatre begins, so it is best to avoid on theatre nights between 6:30 and 8:00 unless of course you are going to the theatre.
Given the price the ambiance is pretty good, most of it inherited from the previous restaurant the Star Anise.
Thai Spice is reasonably priced neighbourhood restaurant with focus on food and I hope they will survive. They have our support for sure, we come back every week.
For our girls night out, we ordered 10 dishes to be delivered to a nail spa where we were going to be pampered for a Saturday evening. Because our order was sizeable, I asked the lady on the phone if they would throw in anything complimentary (as most Chinese restaurants do it, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask). She easily agreed to provide an order of shrimp wontons, enough for one for each of us in the group. Score!
The delivery came right on time and everything was piping hot with sauces kept separately on the side so that things wouldn't get too soggy while in transit. All the food was delicious! And at $9 for most entrees, it was exceptional value for money. We had 10 entrees, fed 13 people, and still had leftovers to take home.
The only thing they forgot was to include plates, forks, and napkins, but other than that, we were all very pleased with the food and service. I will definitely have to make a trip there to dine in one day.
*Because I am forced to submit a rating for ambiance without having physically been to the restaurant, I will give it a four just so my review is accepted.
I have never been blown away here, but they are like a toyota tercel - very reliable.
There are definitely better thai restaurants that have more authentic flavors, however, they always produce for me (customer of 2 years).
The food, although not out of this world, is far superior to thai house in kits, so thai spice gets my business for delivery and take out. The place turns into a bit of a gong show if they ever get busy, but they are so slow most of the time, I doubt it would make sense to hire more people.
The prices are definitely competitive, and the value is great. This palce will contnue to get my business.
I have been to Thai Spice many times and I have always been happy with it.
I have tried nearly everything on the menu at Thai Spice since it's opening last year, and there isn't a single dish I don't like. Right now my favourite dish is Lard Na, which is a gravy/soup with fresh noodles and vegetables. It is always fresh and not too sweet.
There are other dishes I quite enjoy, including the red curry, the papaya salad, the coconut rice, the yellow fried rice, and the pad kee-mao. I have brought my mom in the past and she always orders the massaman curry. I've told quite a few of my friends about this restaurant and they all tried it, and loved it. Many of them have come back to eat there again or ordered take out.
The food is not too spicy or too greasy, and although the food is not cheap, it's not expensive either. It is well worth the price, and the interior of the restautrant is warm and inviting. The waiters and hostesses are friendly and helpful. Overall this is my favourite restaurant.
We live in the 'hood and have walked by many times but tonight is the first time we have actually gone in. Decor is nice and warm with soft lighting. It's quite elegant. It used to be Star Anise and I don't know that the decor has changed much.
We ordered the Pa-nang Curry with beef and the Swimming Rama with chicken. Both were very good. The Swimming Rama had the added bonus of some crisp, garlic-y broccoli and had a thick, peanuty sauce. The Panang curry had a really lovely taste that wasn't too salty and spicy -wise had a nice amount of warmth .We ordered it medium since it was our first time there but next time we will try the hot. The liberal use of kaffir lime leaf can be overwhelming at some Thai places but this dish had just the right amount of zing.
We were surprised that it wasn't busier there since the prices are extremely reasonable and the food is good. I had a good cocktail there too. The "Bangkok Sling". Whiskey, rum, pineapple juice, lime juice and grenadine. It wasn't too sweet and had a nice boozy kick. I could see it becoming my favourite summer drink. I wish it were a bit bigger though.
I'm pretty picky and this place passed with flying colours. I hope word of this place spreads because the staff was so sweet and the food and drinks good. They handed us a delivery/take out menu which we will definitely put to use.
I love Thai food and have eaten at Thai Spice at least 3 times before considering writing a review.
I have not had a negative experience at this restaurant. Tonight I had Massaman curry with a glass of wine and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The bowl of beef Massaman curry and plate of rice was a considerable portion for one person...enough for two people to share making this a fantastic value. The Massaman curry is now one of my favorites, it was delicious.
The restaurant was fairly quiet making it a relaxed/perfect evening with a very unobtrusive/polite server.
I will keep coming back.
My friends and I went here second time because there is lots of parking lot for dinner.
The server was very friendly and prompt. They were kind enough to let us sit down even though half of our group was missing. We held the table for a while without ordering and they didn't seem to mind. I think they could tell we'd nearly been blown away that day.
We ordered the Combination platter, Beef salad and lettuce wrap to start that was very good. Hardly ever do you find a good salad in a Thai restaurant. We then had the Tomkha chicken soup which was good, not great. I'd probably try something else next time, as this is a pretty standard fare at all Thai restaurants.
For the main meal we shared a spicy chicken with basil sauce, Seafood with papaya salad and a very spicy red curry. The papaya salad is awesome, nice and spicy but very refreshing. It was really different and delicious in my book. My friend really liked the curry, it was so spicy he was sweating up a storm while eating it. It was funny, sweat actually dripping off his forehead. We were happy.
I would definitely come here again, looking to try all their other dishes, as they all seemed really good!
My friends consider me to be very picky when it comes to food. I eat Thai food often, I just spent 6 weeks in California and I ate Thai food at 13 different Thai restaurants, and none of the food was as good as Thai Spice. This is my favorite Thai in the Lower Mainland! They must use high quality ingredients, since everything tastes very good. Service is very quick, and I have taken around 4 friends here in the last few months and they all have enjoyed their food as well. The prices are a bit less than you would expect, since it looks like a fine dining restaurant. They also use a lot of Organic ingredients, which might explain why the vegetables taste so good.
We came there based on the (only) good review.
The restaurant was empty, the server kind but inexistant.
no answer to some basic questions about the menu.
Tried :
sate , beef salad, red curry, and pad Thai.
The sate was cooked in the micro wave... came with 3 vegetables and a mayonnaise-style sauce. very bad.not even real chicken.
The beef salad was the "best" meal. (not good at all, but "ok" compared to the rest) . It first had a very bad fish smell... The "lemon" sauce was the best. The beef , not thin and hard as leather. There was a kind of crunchy taste. I first thought it was crunched pinuts. no, just crunched toast on the top...
The curry was more a hot pot with a lot of Bamboo and 3 peaces of beef... the taste was to sweet, couldnt taste the coconut milk or the curry.
The Pad Thai was the worst of all... overcooked noodles with sweet and sour sauce from the pot... 3 small shrimps. very bad.
For 50$ it didnt even match the worst thai fast food...
very disapointed.
My friend and I are big fans of Thai food and decided to try this new restaurant in South Granville. The unanimous decision from both of us was that we will never visit this place again; unless maybe the management and kitchen team changes.
At first sight the place looked fine, the decor in the place makes it look more like an upscale restaurant...at first sight.
The server was friendly and we were guessing she may be the owner. The menu looked good and prices were reasonable.
We ordered a Grilled Chicken green papaya salad, and my friend ordered the tasting menu just for fun.
It took about 20 minutes for our food to arrive.
The salad was a few slices of bland grilled chicken with maybe less than a handful of red leaf lettuce, and a nice portion of coconut rice. The rice was great, the green papaya not that great.
The Tom Yam soup was very sweet, where the taste should be sweet and sour.
The pad thai was decent and probably the best dish of everything we had.
The green chicken curry tasted like can soup.
If you are looking for a good Thai restaurant in town this is not it. My favorite Thai restaurant is still is the Chili House Thai Bistro on Beach Avenue. I've tried so many others but still this remains in the top spot.
Cheers!
| 1. | Siena (3 m) |  |
| 2. | Daniel le Chocolat Belge (51 m) | |
| 3. | Primo's Mexican Grill (73 m) |  |
| 4. | Vij's Rangoli (82 m) |  |
| 5. | Vij's (82 m) | |
| 6. | Cafe Crepe (95 m) |  |
| 7. | Starbucks (104 m) | |
| 8. | West Restaurant + Bar (109 m) | |
| 9. | Bizou Bistro (128 m) | |
| 10. | Marquis, The (140 m) | |
